Man on Pause is a Turkish comedy-drama series about a middle-aged man going through andropause, who decides to make changes in himself and his family’s lives in order to find happiness. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Yusuf is a regular family man in his 50s who lives in Marmaris with his wife, Meryem, and two kids. Under the influence of a midlife crisis, he attempts to change his entire life, starting with himself.
He becomes a completely changed man, only to discover that he is simply going through andropause.
Meanwhile, Meryem perceives her husband’s cheerfulness and altered personality as symptoms of a disease.
The suspicion is heightened when Yusuf’s sister, Fadime, a fortune teller, sees a dead body during a session with Meryem. Meryem follows Yusuf to the hospital, convinced that he is dying, most likely of cancer.
Halit, Yusuf’s brother-in-law, begins pressuring him to open up about his disease and discovers that he was only suffering from ingrown hair, not cancer.
Fadime decides to divorce her husband, Halit, due to his alcoholism and abusive behavior.
Yusuf and Meryem try to persuade Fadime not to leave Halit, but she admits to being pregnant and loving someone else.
Meanwhile, Halit seeks treatment for his drinking problem.
When Fadime does not contact him for several weeks, he shows up at her house unannounced and discovers that she is having an affair with her paragliding instructor, and beats her.
After getting drunk and regretting his actions, he meets Sahinde and spends the night with her.
As a change, Yusuf decides to buy a beachside house by selling their Mountain Lodge.
However, he finds himself drawn into the complicated lives of the wealthy landowner, Mahmut Timucin, his violent Russian lover, Svetlana, his ex-wife, Sahinde, and their attractive twin daughters, Ahu and Asu.
When Yusuf encounters twin sisters in his lingerie shop, he is seduced by one of them. He tries to resist his carnal desires, but eventually succumbs and texts Ahu, “I love you.”
Mahmut realizes his daughters are hiding something and reads the text messages forcefully.
He discovers Yusuf is the one messing with her daughter, Ahu, and pursues him with his Russian girlfriend, Svetlana, who begins shooting him with a gun.
Yusuf, who is running for his life, decides to hide in his mountain lodge and asks his wife to either help him or divorce him because he is innocent.
Meanwhile, Mahmut is on the hunt for him. He locates him and Svetlana tries to entice Yusuf out of the lodge so Mahmut can kill him, but instead, she is shot with an arrow and dies on the spot.
Man on Pause ending explained in detail:
Who killed Svetlana? And why?
Following Svetlana’s death at the mountain lodge, Mahmut tracks down the person who shot the arrow and discovers that it was his ex-wife, Sahinde, who killed her.
Sahinde accuses Svetlana of stealing her husband and destroying her happy marriage. She even confesses to still loving Mahmut and killing Svetlana to free him from her clutches.
Why was Mahmut killed?
Despite Mahmut’s grief over Svetlana’s death, Sahinde persuades him to accompany her and dispose of her body by throwing it off a cliff.
Svetlana’s brothers from Russia arrive at Mahmut’s house in search of Mahmut and Svetlana. Ahu and Asu inform them that their father is on a yacht. They still force their way into the house with guns, but the twins fight them and kick them out.
The twins tell their mother about the incident. Sahinde warns Mahmut that her brothers will come to the yacht looking for Svetlana, so he should get rid of all her belongings.
Meanwhile, Svetlana’s brothers kidnap and interrogate Sahinde. She lies and claims that Mahmut murdered her in order to be with his wife. They eventually find Mahmut on the yacht and shoot him to death.
Do Yusuf and Meryem buy their dream beach house?
Yusuf is unaware that the owner of the beach house, Mahmut, is the father of the twins and the same man who was trying to kill him.
Yusuf and Meryem call Mahmut to close the deal after selling their mountain lodge, but Mahmut already suspects him of being involved with his daughter.
He purposefully invites Yusuf to his yacht to negotiate the deal, revealing his true identity. He beats Yusuf and calls off the deal.
Yusuf and Meryem had given up on the house, but after Mahmut was killed, all property was transferred to Sahinde, who lives happily with her twin daughters and Halit.
Yusuf and Meryem get their happy ending after Sahinde sells them the beach house.
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